Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: The First Magic Circle User
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I set out to find the maid based on the information Ed had given me.
"Light blue-green hair and slightly tanned skin. Karen said she saw her today, and she looked like a maid who hadn't been working here long."
It was extremely limited information, but I had confidence I could track her down. There weren't many maids who had joined the mansion recently.
All I had to do was narrow it down to the new hires and pick out the one matching Ed's description.
There was only one reason I was so determined to find that particular maid.
I wanted to ask her why she had decided so quickly to visit the Magic Tower.
It wasn't the kind of decision anyone could make lightly on a whim. Even if the scroll had dazzled her, her choice had come remarkably fast.
'Is this the room where the new maids stay?'
I paced the corridor lined with the maids' rooms, keeping one door under constant watch. Before knocking at random, I needed to organize my thoughts on what to say.
'First, I'll ask what made her decide to go to the Magic Tower...'
Maybe after that, I should ask if she hadn't been scared? I was busy sorting through a mental list of questions when it happened.
"Excuse me, do you need something?"
A youthful voice came from behind me. She sounded like she was in her mid-to-late teens at most. The moment I turned and saw the young maid's face, I knew instantly.
'The first beastkin to use the magic circle!'
Light blue-green hair, tanned skin, and clearly too young to have been working here long.
I had narrowed down some candidates beforehand, but I hadn't expected to find her this easily. Since she was the one beastkin I was dying to meet, I nearly greeted her with over-the-top excitement, as if we were old friends.
"Ahem. Actually, I came here with a question. Could you spare a moment?"
I had no intention of holding up a new maid for long. She looked busy enough that she needed to hurry off to her next task.
She nodded agreeably, so I jumped straight into my first question.
"You're the first beastkin to go to the Magic Tower through the magic circle, right?"
Her already large eyes widened even further as she asked in a surprised voice,
"I haven't told anyone about it. How did you know?"
"There was a beastkin who saw you."
"Ah."
She accepted it right away upon hearing there had been a witness, then turned the tables and took control of the conversation.
"I had no idea I'd be the first one. The mage there told me. Have you used the magic circle yourself?"
"No, I traveled with the Family Head."
"May I ask what brings you here?"
"I was curious. About how you decided so quickly to use the magic circle leading to the Magic Tower."
She hesitated and took a step back, which meant my eyes must have been gleaming a bit too intensely.
What she told me after that was the complete opposite of anything I'd expected.
The maid—no, Anna—already knew exactly who I was. Not merely as the sheep beastkin who had come to the Rub mansion as Ed's guardian, but as the one who had kicked off the entire magic slave rescue operation.
"Your sibling was at the shelter I visited?"
"Yes. My sibling had gone missing once. They were taken as a magic slave but somehow got rescued and ended up staying at the shelter."
She spoke of her heartbreaking past with calm detachment and continued without pause.
Her parents had set out to find their missing child, only to meet with an accident and pass away. She had found her sibling too late, been saddled with their care, and desperately needed a job—which was how she ended up here.
Anna had applied after hearing the Rub mansion was hiring maids, determined to earn money somehow to support her sibling.
Then, upon seeing the news extra about the magic scroll giveaway, she had immediately tracked down the magic circle's location.
'I thought it was just the exploited slaves who had suffered...'
Hearing her family's ruin laid bare like that sent a shock through me, my head ringing.
Just as guilt crept in for dragging such a painful story out of her, Anna bowed deeply and expressed her gratitude.
"Thanks to you, Lady Lami, my sibling was able to come home. Thank you so much."
"No, I didn't really do anything."
"That's not true. I heard you're the amazing one who got the Magic Tower to act."
"Uh...?"
Who said I got anyone to act?
Anna bowed her head once more, thanking me profusely—words that could spell big trouble if overheard by other beastkin.
I waved my hands frantically in denial. Yes, I had tipped them off, but the Magic Tower wouldn't have moved based solely on my word, and I added that she absolutely shouldn't say things like that in front of other beastkin.
She tilted her head but made a gesture promising to keep her mouth shut.
Sometime when I wasn't looking, I'd apparently become the legendary sheep who had moved the Magic Tower. Flustered and my face burning, I fanned myself as I headed back to my room.
'To think she made such a brave choice just for money.'
In the original story, the first beastkin to use the circle had done so to boast about their courage. This unexpected, grounded reason left me deep in thought.
Anna said that the moment she got the scroll, she sold it right away to raise money. She had sent it all to her sibling, who was living alone in their village.
That story stuck with me. I couldn't stop thinking about Anna and her little sibling.
'She said they have so little mana that becoming a mage is impossible, right?'
If her young sibling could at least use magic, they might become a mage and earn money that way—but with such scant mana, even that was out of reach.
They could manage only the simplest spells, and even those required waiting for their mana to recover afterward.
"Hmm..."
Sensing my serious brooding, Mimo approached. She nudged my knee—where I sat on the bed—with her nose, then nodded toward the terrace outside.
"Huh? Why outside?"
I got up from the bed and stepped out onto the terrace. There was Billy, perched on a nearby tree branch, taking a rest.
'Isn't he cold...?'
This was the second time I'd seen him out there like that. It was the first time I'd ever seen a beastkin lounging on a tree branch in winter.
Perhaps sensing my gaze, Billy opened his closed eyes, looked at me, and smiled. He seemed utterly unaffected by the cold.
I ended up calling out to him without thinking.
"Aren't you cold?"
"No. I like winter, actually. It's nice and cool."
"Ah, cool, huh..."
He really wasn't your average beastkin. To say it was "nice and cool" so leisurely, with the tip of his nose turning red in this weather.
I nodded awkwardly and turned to head back inside when a brilliant idea struck me. I whipped back around in a hurry.
Billy, who had assumed I was going in, gave me a puzzled look.
"I'd like to hire a personal maid."
"Really?"
I had always just exchanged greetings with the mansion's servants without keeping anyone close, so his surprise was understandable. Billy even uncrossed his arms and leaned toward me.
I worried he might fall from the tree, but his sense of balance was impeccable—no mishaps occurred.
"Looks like you've found a maid you really like."
Billy welcomed the change with a kind crinkle of his eyes. True to his sharp instincts, I told him I wanted Anna by my side.
Anna became my personal maid on the spot. She knocked briskly on my door, then greeted me with a beaming smile.
"It's an honor to serve you, Lady Lami!"
"Ahaha, looking forward to working with you."
Her greeting reminded me of the mercenaries I'd seen at the Magic Tower's magic supply shop. As I smiled awkwardly and returned the pleasantry, I spotted Ed beyond the open door, wearing a baffled expression.
Instead of words, I beckoned Ed inside with a gesture. I didn't want the choice window popping up right after assigning her as my personal maid.
Anna glanced back at my signal and quickly stepped aside to let Ed enter.
"Huh? You're the beastkin who first went to the Magic Tower via the magic circle?"
Ed recognized her at a glance.
Her ears flushed red as she shyly nodded. She must have heard how rumors about her had spread and felt embarrassed.
It hadn't gone fully public, but among those involved in the magic slave rescue, I was known as the "sheep who moved the Magic Tower," so I could understand her feelings all too well.
'The sheep who moved the Magic Tower paired with the wolf who first visited it.'
At the very least, inside the mansion, I had a feeling we'd draw plenty of stares whenever we were together for a while.
"You've finally taken on a personal maid?!"
Ed's eyes went wide and round in shock when Anna introduced herself as such. When I nodded, he covered his mouth with both hands, then suddenly put on a stern expression.
He extended a hand to Anna, asking for a handshake.
Gripping her hand, Ed said in a grave tone,
"Please take good care of our Lady Lami from now on."
The sight made me burst out laughing. It was just too adorable, seeing young Ed so earnestly entrust my care to her.
The moment he finished, Ed dashed over to me and grabbed my hand. Then, he proudly declared,
"Now I can protect Lady Lami from the zebra!"
Pulling my hand, Ed led me outside to the training grounds.